Basic Cybersecurity Rules to Ensure Online Safety for Internet Users

In the wake of ever-increasing cyber-attacks, it has become necessary
that internet users take some security and precautionary measures.

Cybersecurity experts at the International Telecommunications Union
(ITU) are of the opinion that online identity theft for fraud is now a
significant threat to e-Business services and even Government.

Three major areas that offer the most susceptibility to internet
users online are password management, email, and social media, which
remains most used access points and communication media online.

There exist a few basic cybersecurity rules that internet users can
observe to ensure their safety online when it comes to managing
passwords/passcodes as well as social media.

Password Management:
Experts advise that internet users should as much as possible avoid
overtly easy-to-guess passwords/passcodes such as their names,
birthdays, anniversary dates, default passwords and even “123456”.

Interestingly, the password “123456” is one of the most common passwords in the world.
Verizon 2016 Data Breach Investigations Report reveals that 63% of cybersecurity breaches are due to weak or default passwords.

It is imperative to make your passwords difficult for hackers to
guess by including a mix of upper and lower case alphabets as well as
individual characters. Passwords with only lowercase alphabets are more
likely to be easily hacked.

Internet users in the developing countries often gather in workspaces
where they usually use shared devices and computer systems. As a user
of a shared device, it is essential that you never save your password on
that device. Apart from the fact that you will be preventing
unauthorized access to your data, it is that your password will be
hacked.

Email Safety Tips:
One of the easiest ways for one’s data to get hacked easily is via
emails. Statistics show that almost 30% of internet users open phishing
emails while 12% click the embedded links or open the attachments in the
mail.

To keep your email safe, observe the following simple rules.1. Avoiding clicking directly on links within emails, especially when
the links are long, untraceable and from unknown persons. Always
endeavor to test such links embedded in emails by crosschecking the URL
within the link.

2. Avoid downloading attachments within phishing emails without first
verifying the source, analyzing format and motive of the sender.

Social Media:
With billions of internet users logging onto their social media
accounts every second on a daily basis around the world, the likelihood
there would be victims.